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PART I

Introduction

In a quiet back room at the end of a winding corridor in Tamworth Regional Council's

Ray Walsh House, the volunteers of the New England Film and Sound Archive [now

Tamworth Regional Film and Sound Archive] demonstrate what can be achieved

with persistence, commitment and support from the local community.

They actively collect, preserve and provide community access to an historic

collection of film, video and audio from throughout the New England region in

northern NSW...

Tamworth Regional Council provides a permanent base to house the Archive's

collection, while Prime Television has generously donated obsolete equipment and

collection material. Innovative use of a film projector and video camera means the

Archive can copy film to video.

A founding member of the Archive, Bladen Brooke said that the volunteers aim "to

encourage the preservation of all local film and sound material and establish a

catalogued collection which members of the community can access".1

These words, written in 2002, remain true to this day. The Tamworth Regional Film

and Sound Archive collection operates as the only public audiovisual archive in

regional Australia, and its collection is a rich representation of the history of the

Tamworth and New England region, capturing a century's worth of film and sound

heritage. In 2016 the Tamworth Regional Film and Sound Archive won a Tamworth

Regional Heritage Award for Research & Investigation/Analysis for its World War I

commemoration project, 'Soldiers in Slides', a collaborative exercise with local

school students and Archive volunteers (see Part II).

2016 Heritage Award won by Tamworth Regional Film & Sound Archive for 'Soldiers in Slides'.

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1.0 Methodology

1.1 Consultation with owners of the collection

The consultant discussed the history and future of the Tamworth Regional Film and

Sound Archive with volunteers, including President Ian Austin, John Vickery, Dan

Alderson, Allan Alderson and Miranda Heckenberg on both her visits, and was

shown key items in the collection on both occasions. She thanks them for their

hospitality and willingness to share their stories of and insights into the collection.

Many of these are incorporated in this report.

1.2 Collection research in consultation with owners

TRFSA President Ian Austin with a DVD containing a digital version of footage from a

previous format – reel-to-reel tape, audiocassette or VHS.

The consultant took the opportunity to discuss specific aspects of the collection with

volunteers, including Ian Austin (digitisation process), John Vickery (Ison's Theatre

flag), Dan Alderson (1930 Projection Diary) and Allan Alderson (entering Prime TV

items on E-Hive). She was also provided with a range of useful materials, including

PDF files of interpretive panels relating to the history of the Archive and collection

items. DVDs of the NEFSA-TRFSA 20 Year History, The Rise and Fall of East West

Airlines, and Making the Good Times Possible: the rise and fall of East West Airlines

(Viewmark Films 2015) were also given to the consultant for viewing.

1.3 Contact with other similar collections to identify comparative collections

The consultant is familiar with the collections of the National Film and Sound Archive

(NFSA) in Canberra, and has also consulted with the former Deputy Director of

NFSA, Dr Ray Edmondson, on specific items in the TRFSA collection.

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1.4 Number of visits to the collection to work on the assessment and

understand the collection.

The consultant visited TRFSA in October 2016 for a short familiarisation visit, and

spent a full day with the collection and TRFSA volunteers on 21 February 2017.

2.0 Summary description of the organisation and its collection

The Tamworth Regional Film and Sound Archive preserves the film and sound

heritage of Tamworth and the region.

Formed in 1995 as the New England Film and Sound Archive and now the Tamworth

Regional Film and Sound Archive (TRFSA) houses about 8000 cans and cassettes

of local and regionally produced visual material, all of it relating to Tamworth and

New-England NorthWest; and over 20,000 items on the database, plus historical

audio material. Tamworth and regional material dates back to 1916 and includes

many local collections. Equipment donated by Prime TV and others enables the

TRFSA to play as well as copy most formats.

The collection also holds cameras, recording equipment, and sound and vision

players from decades of film and sound production and projection. Of particular

interest is material relating to local picture theatres, including projection records, a

row of theatre seats, and a significant collection of glass-plate theatre slides used for

advertising in local cinemas, including historic photos of First World War servicemen

from the region. Historic photographs also form part of the collection. The Tamworth

Film and Sound Archive is the only public film and sound archive in regional New

South Wales, and works in close collaboration with the National Film and Sound

Archive in Canberra. It performs an ongoing role in capturing the audiovisual

heritage of the New England region, capturing footage of Prime TV newscasts on a

daily basis, and adding it to a digital database.

The Tamworth Regional Film and Sound Archive objectives are to encourage the

preservation of all visual and audio material; and emulate the objectives of the

National Film and Sound Archive.

3.0 History and significance of the organisation and its collection

3.1 History of the collection

The New England Film and Sound Archive (later Tamworth Regional Film and

Sound Archive, TRFSA) was established in 1995, with assistance from the National

Film and Sound Archive, The University of New England, Tamworth Regional

Council and volunteers led by Arthur Baker and Bladen Brooke OAM, who became

its first President.2 The impetus to commence collecting sound and film from the

region came from the threatened dispersal of Channel 7 news film relating to the

region, and Arthur Baker's desire to have this material preserved.

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The TRFSA 'tapped into a valuable resource' at Prime TV, which provided 20 years

of television coverage of local events not recorded elsewhere, and the necessary

equipment to reformat the footage. Prime TV continues to deposit footage with the

TRFSA. Ian Austin and John Vickery have also deposited film from family sources,

as have other volunteers, and the TRFSA continues to call for vision and sound

material from the Tamworth region. The TRFSA expanded from one room to two in

Ray Walsh House; and now has seven computers. The database has been migrated

from Excel to E-Hive, and this can be accessed via Tamworth Regional Council's

website. The TRFSA functions as a 3.5.5. sub-committee of Tamworth Regional

Council, and works collaboratively with the Tamworth Regional Gallery, other

museums in Tamworth and commercial venues such as shopping centres; and holds

an annual Fabulous Flicks night.

3.2 Description of the collection

The overall content of the collection has been described in 2.0 Summary description

of the organisation and its collection. The consultant has divided the collection into

three categories for further elaboration of its content, as follows:

Film and Sound collection

Film and Sound Equipment collection

Local Theatre collection

Film and Sound collection

TRFSA houses about 8000 cans and cassettes of local and regionally produced

visual material, all of it relating to Tamworth and New-England NorthWest; and over

20,000 items on the database, plus historical audio material. This is being

transferred from analogue to digital formats for preservation.

Cans of reel to reel tape in storage; folders of DVDs of digitised footage.

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Folder for DVDs of digitised material.

TRFSA Vice-President Allan Alderson entering Prime Television-recorded local news

items on the E-Hive database.

As well as the Prime TV news footage, this part of the collection holds historic film

footage from the region, including a Japanese western, The Drifting Avenger, shot

around the Nundle pub and the Nundle-Goonoo Goonoo area.3 It holds film material

covering major events and relates to personalities in the region, including Canon

Baker (Arthur Baker's father) who shot 16mm film of local events on out-of-date

stock. The TRFSA also holds the Treloar collection from a family that ran a local

department store and provided one of Tamworth's mayors. Some of the film in the

Treloar collection dates from the 1920s and shows Jack Treloar on a golf course with

kangaroos. The Cole collection contains film of the 1955 flood.

The TRFSA also holds historic film by G Palbot Sanderson of the first car to drive

from Melbourne to Cape York, 1935/36; and film of Goonoo Goonoo Station

(Australian Agricultural Company 1834-19854) showing international visitors

including Indira Gandhi and Prince Charles; also Sir Roden Cutler and Lady Cutler

when he was Governor of NSW in the 1970s. Compilations of historic footage with

the title, Fabulous Flicks, are shown by TRFSA.

The biggest story, however, to draw on the resources of the TRFSA is that of East-

West Airlines, Australia's third airline between the late 1940s and late 1980s, which

originated in Tamworth. Using material from the TRFSA files and the files of Captain

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Ron Walesby, Ian Austin and Bladen Brooke compiled a DVD documentary, The

Rise and Fall of East West Airlines, that chronicled the airline's progress from Avro

Anson aircraft piloted by ex-RAAF personnel; to Lockheed Hudsons, DC-3s and

finally Fokker Friendships, all the while expanding a regional and interstate network

that extended from Alice Springs in the west to Norfolk Island in the east; and from

Prosperpine, Mackay and Rockhampton in the north to Albury in the south. East-

West Airlines, despite a valiant legal fight for airline deregulation to break the

TAA/Ansett duopoly, was bought out by Sir Peter Abeles and Rupert Murdoch and

the TNT group, and later absorbed into Ansett operations. But for nearly 40 years

East-West Airlines, born in Tamworth and with its fleet maintenance base located

there, gave the two big airlines significant competition on regional routes by

capturing the growing leisure market. The DVD caught the attention of Viewmark

Films, who worked with TRFSA and Ian Austin and Bladen Brooke to create a

broader version of the story in 2015, Making the Good Times Possible: The rise and

fall of East-West Airlines.

Film and Sound Equipment collection

The TRFSA holds a large collection of cameras, lenses, projectors and sound

recorders from various periods of audiovisual history, reflecting the many changes in

technology in audiovisual production, projection and other delivery mechanisms.

These items make very popular displays, and some of them have recently been part

of an exhibition in Ray Walsh House for Heritage Month.

Projection equipment and cameras on display in the TRFSA premises in Ray Walsh House.

(Left) a wide range of lenses used in filming; (right) vinyl disc cutting machine.

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LocalTheatres collection

The third component of the TRFSA collection is material related to Tamworth's

picture theatres – Ison's Royal and Open-Air Theatres and the Regent Theatre. This

material includes plate-glass slides of cinema advertising and photos of First World

War soldiers; and a 1930 Projection Diary (all these are described in more detail in

Part II). Historic photos of local theatres and a Union Jack flag that flew at Ison's

Open-Air Theatre during the First World War are also part of this collection.

Framed historic photos of the Regent Theatre, 1947: (left) the foyer; (right) the auditorium, complete with boxes.

Row of theatre seats.

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TRFSA Treasurer John Vickery holds the First World War Union Jack flag from Ison's

Open-Air Theatre.

Glass-plate slides advertising movies to be shown in Ison's Theatres (see Part II).

3.2.3 Condition of the collection

The collection is in good condition generally, and is housed in airconditioned

premises in Ray Walsh House, Tamworth. Collection storage is on site. The

audiovisual preservation issue of film and sound recordings on obsolete formats

such as audiocassettes and VHS tape is being dealt with by transfer to digital

formats.

Specific conservation issues

The Union Jack flag from Ison's Open-Air Theatre, that flew above recruiting rallies

and screenings at the theatre of the glass-plate slides of local First World War

soldiers (see Part II), is in need of conservation, as it is worn into holes in several

places, one of which has been stitched together by hand. The 1930 Projection Diary

would also benefit from advice from a paper conservator.

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Damage to fabric of the Union Jack flag that hung above Ison's Open-Air Theatre during the First World War.

The significant 1930 Projection Diary (see Part II) shows some weakening of the spine and discolouration of the pages.

3.2.4 Comparative collections

National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), Canberra

Established in 1984, with roots dating back to the 1930s, the NFSA is Australia’s

premier audiovisual archive and a place of engagement with Australian audiovisual

production, past and present, for everyone. The NFSA collection holds more than 2.3

million works, including films, television and radio programs, videos, audio tapes,

records, compact discs, phonograph cylinders and wire recordings. It also

encompasses documents and artefacts such as photographs, posters, lobby cards,

publicity items, scripts, costumes, props, memorabilia, oral histories, and vintage

equipment.5

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1960s-style television set showing cricket match broadcast, National Film and Sound

Archive, Canberra.

Yarrawonga-Mulwala Pioneer Museum holds projection equipment and three styles of seating from local cinemas.

Projection equipment and theatre seats from local cinemas are held in other

collections, for example, Yarrawonga-Mulwala Pioneer Museum, on the

NSW/Victorian border; and Capella Pioneer Heritage Village, Capella, Queensland,

which claims to have the only renovated canvas-sling seats in Central Queensland in

its CG Cinema.

3.2.5 Statement of significance for the entire collection

The Tamworth Regional Film and Sound Archive is of historical significance as it

preserves a key part of the Tamworth region – and New South Wales' – twentieth-

century heritage, captured on film and in sound recordings, including activities in

nationally significant places such as Goonoo Goonoo Station; and the story of

Australia's third airline from the 1940s to the 1980s, East-West Airlines. It also holds

images of over 400 soldiers who went to fight in the First World War, and information

about their war service and family connections.

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The collection contains nationally significant historic material relating to the early

days of cinema in Australia, including cinema advertising on glass-plates slides; and

local advertising that provides a unique snapshot of life in the region. A Projection

Diary from 1930 – the year that talking pictures came to Australia – is a powerful

testimony to the uptake of cinema in rural and regional Australia.

Some aspects of the collection, notably the cinema advertising glass-plate slides,

display a distinctive aesthetic strongly related to the early cinema, and can be

regarded as having aesthetic significance.

The collection is of immense research significance, in all areas, from the film and

sound collection to the historic photographs, glass-plate advertising slides and the

Projection Diary, which provides a unique insight into what Tamworth's citizens were

viewing at this early period.

The Tamworth Regional Film and Sound Archive is of social significance to the

Tamworth community as the major repository of its twentieth- and twenty-first

century history. The TRFSA's involvement with local schools and other local cultural

institutions such as Tamworth Regional Gallery helps to cement this significance.

Footage and sound recordings in the collection are unique; the glass plate slides of

movie features are also rare and the Projection Diary is an outstanding and rare

example of this type of record. The only public film and sound archive in regional

New South Wales, the Tamworth Regional Film and Sound Archive can be

considered rare in itself.

The large collection of film and sound equipment is a fine representative example of

the technology that has enabled us to document our history using film and sound

over a century.

The collection is in good condition overall, with some individual items in need of

conservation advice and possible treatment.

The Tamworth Regional Sound and Film Archive collection has considerable

interpretive capacity for physical and online exhibitions; and is also accessible

online.

4.0 Key recommendations

4.1 A core part of the archive consists of raw footage on pneumatic tape, which

needs to be transferred to a digital format. Funding should be sought to

expedite this transfer.

4.2 16 mm film is currently on VHS. Ideally the original film should be accessed

for digitisation purposes. Purchase a Retroscan (cost estimate of $12,000) to

copy 16 mm film frame by frame.

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4.3 Gold CDs are currently being used for some digital storage. A Preservation

Needs Assessment by an audiovisual conservator could provide advice on

whether this is a suitable storage option or whether storage in the cloud would

be a preferable option.

4.4 The 1930 Projection Diary should be examined for possible conservation

treatment, as the spine is weakening and some of the pages show

discolouration. The Projection Diary should be housed in an archival box.

Digitisation of the 1930s Projection Diary after conservation treatment would

make this valuable resource accessible to a wider audience, especially if it

were to be uploaded to the Tamworth Regional Council website.

4.5 Advice should be sought on conservation treatment of the First World War

Union Jack from Ison's Open-Air Theatre.

4.7 The Projection Diary and similar documentation in the collection should be

nominated to the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register, in

collaboration with the National Film and Sound Archive.

References 1 'Archiving goes bush', On the Wire: News from Screensound Australia, Vol, 1, issue 1, October

2002. 2 Tamworth Regional Film and Sound Archive brochure, n.d.

3 NEFSA - TRFSA 20 Year History, DVD produced by Tamworth Regional Film and Sound Archive,

n.d. 4 The largest body of Australian Agricultural Company (AAC) records is held in the Noel Butlin

Archives of Business and Labour, in The Australian National University. The AAC records are also listed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register for documentary heritage, http://www.amw.org.au/register/listings/australian-agricultural-company-archives 5 National Film and Sound Archive, https://www.nfsa.gov.au/about/what-we-collect, accessed 29 April

2017.